Adventure Cycle - Touring Handbook: Trailblazer

Take the cycle trip of a lifetime. Touring by bicycle is fast becoming a popular option for the adventurous traveller who wants to escape the backpacker circuit and its long cramped bus rides.

Expand your horizons with the Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook and turn your bicycle into a travelling machine capable of taking you on the trip of a lifetime – across a country, across a continent or even right around the world.

Practical information – How to plan and prepare for a long-distance trip. What to look for in a new bike and reviews of some of the world’s best touring- and trekking-bikes – Adapting a standard bike for the Big Ride – Choosing components, equipment for the road and review of camping gear – Health precautions, inoculations, visas, money and safety

Trans-continental route outlines Across Europe, Asia, Australasia, North and South America and Africa; recommended cycling routes within countries and overland. Everything from popular routes eg India’s Leh-Manali Highway to lesser-known cycle-touring areas such as Madagascar.

Tales from the Saddle Ten first-hand accounts of spoke-bending biking adventures worldwide. Battling against the elements on epic journeys in Siberia, the Sahara, Tibet, Kyrgyzstan, Costa Rica, South America and many more. Plus the historic account of a cycle ride across Europe on a wooden-wheeled bicycle in 1929.

Publication Date:

01/04/2008

Edition:

1

INTRODUCTION

PART 1: PRACTICALITIES

Planning and preparation
What kind of trip? 9 – Alone or with friends? 11 – Getting information 14

Documentation, money and information
Passports and visas 15 – Money 15 – Keeping your valuables safe 19

Health precautions, inoculations and insurance
Inoculations 20 – Avoiding other health hazards 21 – Sunburn and sunstroke 22 – Altitude sickness 22 – Diet and health 22 – Conclusion: take it easy 23 – Dealing with dogs 24

What kind of bike?
Touring bikes 25 – Mountain bikes 28 – Trekking bikes 28 – Tandems 29 – Folding bikes 30 – Recumbents 31

Choosing a new bike
Thorn Exp 32 – Koga-Miyata World Traveller 33 – Thorn Raven 34 – Bruce Gordon Rock ‘N’ Road Tour 34 – HP Velotechnik Street Machine GTe 35 – Dawes Ultra-Galaxy 35 – Ridgeback Panorama 35 – Optima Condor 36 – Trek 250 36 – Fahrrad Manufaktur T400 36 – Surly Long Haul Trucker 37 – Bianchi Volpe 37 – Revolution Country 38 – Dawes Galaxy Twin 38

Buying a used mountain bike for touring 40

Component considerations
Gearing systems 42 – Brake choices 44 – Wheels 45

Comfort – finding the sweet spot 49

Carrying your gear 52 – Racks or trailers? 53 – Panniers 56

Transporting your bike by air 59

Clothing 63 – Layering 64 – Feet, hands and helmets 65

Camping gear – Tents 69 – Pegging down your preference 69 – Sleeping bags 72 – Stoves 74 – Kitchen essentials 76 – Headtorches 77 – Water filters 77 – GPS 79

PART 2: ROUTE OUTLINES

Europe
Western Europe – Ready-made routes 83 – Wild camping in Europe 85 – North Sea cycle route 86
Eastern Europe and the Balkans 86 – Slavs Reunited 87

Asia
Russia – Police, the ‘GAI’ and bureaucracy 94 – Roads and routes 95
Turkey 97
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan – Visas and practicalities 99 – Damascus 100 - Lebanon and northern Syria 101
The Caucasus – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan 102
Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) – 105 – Visas 107 – Pamir Highway 108
Karakoram Highway 109
India – Accommodation and food 111 – Cycling the Indian Himalaya 112 – Leh-Manali Highway 115 – Lahaul, Spiti and Kinnaur 117 – Leh-Srinigar Highway 118
China – Crossing from Central Asia 120 – Kashgar to Mt Kailash 121 – Tibet Routes 128
Eastern China – Touring notes 131 – Biking from Hong Kong 134
Mongolia – Crossing the Gobi 135
South-East Asia – Malaysia and Indonesia 138 – Singapore 140 – Thailand 140 – Laos 141 – Cambodia – 142 – Vietnam 146
Japan – Riding conditions 150 – Expenses 148 – Japan end to end 151

Australasia
Australia – The Nullarbor Plain 155 – South Australia & Victoria 157 – South-Western Australia 157 – Outback Tour 158
New Zealand 160

North, Central & South America
Canada Yukon Territory 163 – USA (Pacific Coast Highway) 165
USA (The Great Divide) 168 – Baja California 171
Central America 172
South America 173 – Colombia, Ecuador and Peru 173 – Bolivia and south to Patagonia 176 – Chile 179 – Carretera Austral 179 – Argentina 180 – Tierra del Fuego 183

Africa
North Africa 185 – The Sahara 187 – Morocco 188 – Mauritania 189 – Tunisia 189 – Egypt 190 – Algeria 190 – Libya 192
Sub-Saharan Africa – Nigeria 193 – Cameroon 193 – Congo 194
Zambia and southern Africa 197 – Angola 198 – Madagascar 200

PART 3: TALES FROM THE SADDLE

Europe en vélo – 1929, Jean Bell 204
The Colonel’s Trousers, Edward Genochio 215
Nouakchott for Christmas, Luke Skinner & Anna Heywood 226
Postcards from a pilgrimage, Beat Heim 234
Small hazards in South America, Ivan Viehoff 237
A little light cycling in Kyrgyzstan, Igor Kovse 243
Recumbent research, Maya van Leemput 248
Cycle-touring in Costa Rica, Michele Sanna 252
The road to Everest, Dave Wodchis 258
Bicycle wine, Alastair Bland 263

APPENDIX – BICYCLE MAINTENANCE 266

GLOSSARY 277

CONTRIBUTORS 278

INDEX 282